12 Creative Travel Bullet Journal Page Ideas To Inspire Your Next Trip

I love bullet journals. I love creativity. And I love traveling.

When I put all these things together, I create a creative experience of making a bullet journal for a special time in my life. It’s so rewarding and fun to look back on for years to come. When I look back on my old journals, sometimes I wish I was a bit more creative. So to get myself out of a rut (and hopefully you too, if you need it!) I created this list of new ways to shake up your creativity and think about traveling and journaling in different ways. Here are 12 creative travel bullet journal pages to try on your not trip:

1. Illustrate Travel Quote that Inspires the Trip

Quotes are powerful. They provide insight, inspiration and guidance during our travels. In all of the chaos of a trip, reading a quote in your travel journal can ground you, remind you why you went on the trip in the first place. Travel quotes are essential in my travel journals.

They can also be really creative, especially if you incorporate your own hand lettering. Hand letting is extremely creative and relaxing. It doesn’t have to be perfect or beautiful, it just has to be you. Look around Pinterest for some inspiration. The combination of the personal quote you picked, along with lettering in your hand, will create something beautiful and personal.

2. Try a Trip Research Page

Most of the joy we get from a trip is from the anticipation of it. One of the reasons I travel is to learn about other cultures, people and places. I combine these two desires into a trip research page. Once I decide on my next trip destination (and sometimes before) I research the music, films, food and books from that place. I add them all to my trip research spreads and then try to learn as much as I can about them. I watch the movies, read the books and with each one I accomplish, I mark it off in my traveler’s notebook. It acts as a guide for me, before the trip and after. It’s great if you’re going to a place that speaks a different language, you can add a spread with common phrases.

3. Make a Spread on What You’re Most Excited About

Along the same lines as above in the trip research page, I love to make a visual spread on what I’m most excited about. I’m a visual person (and am guessing a lot of you are too) so seeing the beautiful locations I hope to see on my trip in my journal really helps me get excited about the trip.

I love Opera and have always wanted to see Opera in Italy. They have so many gorgeous opera houses and their shows are big and opulent. I’m planning a trip soon, but to remind me of my dream, I made a spread about Italian Opera in my travel notebook. Every time I look at it, it makes me happy and motivated to work hard to go on that trip.

4. Capture the Sound of Your Trip with the Trip Soundtrack Page

Every trip has a soundtrack. Maybe it’s music from the place you’re visiting or the songs you loved at the moment of the trip. Capturing that in a creative way in your travel journal can add texture to your journal in a wonderful way. When you look back to it years from now, remembering the music will be a sense memory that will transport you back to the trip even more than looking through photos.

To make a Trip Soundtrack spread, you can either make a list of songs or just one with an inspiring image next to it. I love the idea of illustrating a phone music player with album art. Since we’re probably listening to the songs on our phones, its a creative way to capture that moment in time.

Another idea is to make a Playlist spread where you list many songs that remind you of the trip.

5. Use Photos in New Ways

Photos are a staple of travel bullet journals. There are so many ways to use them creatively, but sometimes you can get in a rut and just paste them in our travel journal or do the same spreads over and over. To get creative with using photos, you have to think of them in a new way.

One way I’ve been playing with lately is to use photos of a place and then place stars next to them, like a rating system. I usually do this with my instant cameraIt’s a great way to remember my reactions to a place with a photo I took and when someone asks me my recommendations for their trip, I can show them this creative spread. It’s win, win!

Another way you can use photos creatively is to take a photo, print it out and then doodle on top of it. Make a spread that’s about the place or thing in the picture and add your own creative spin to it.

6. Make Your Own Headers for Your Travel Journal

Every travel bullet journal page should have a header. They are the base of any spread and have a lot of potential to be unique and creative. A lot of bullet journal lovers have a few headers that they love and use over and over. I’m like that too. A creature of habit, I like what I like and I use it over and over. But what if you made a couple of new headers just to use in your travel journal? I’ve done this before and it was really creatively fulfilling and gave that journal a special look and feel.

It can be simple. Like, if you always use banners, maybe add the colors of the flag of the country you’re visiting. Or it could be as complicated and creative as you want. Like, creating a new hand lettered font for your headers that remind you of the place you’re visiting, or creating special travel inspired doodles that look like stamps or airplanes. Get creative and have fun! You’ll be glad you did.

7. Go Outside Your Comfort Zone

This is an essential to more creative travel bullet journals. Get out of your comfort zone. If you’re spreads are always minimal, maybe try a collage spread that has lots of pictures and looks a bit chaotic. If all your spreads are collages, try a minimal, ore controlled aesthetic. If you do this, you’ll have to look at your travel journal a different way, and that always sparks creativity.

Another way to get out of your comfort zone is to try some new materials and techniques. What about adding some washi tape? or trying your hand with a watercolor set? Don’t be scared! You’re in search of new creative ideas, and sometimes that looks like being bad or messing up. Doing this in your travel journal is really the best place, because we’re always trying new things when we travel. Trying new things and messing up and going the wrong way and then finding our way again. That’s what we’re doing physically every day when we travel. It teaches us things, makes us grow. Going through that same process in your travel journal is essential for creativity. You will benefit from it, find a new way of looking at things. And isn’t that the whole reason we travel?

8. Make a Spread for Your Favorite Activity

Do you love tacos? Bookstores? Records? If you’re like me, you have a thing that you do in every place you go. For me, it’s bookstores. I love going to local bookstores wherever I’m traveling. Especially in a country where I don’t speak the language. It brings me a lot of joy, so I make a plan to go to as many bookstores as I can while I’m traveling.

You can do this before your trip, after your trip or both. I like to do it before my trip, while I’m researching each place, and then add a photo and a rating once I’ve been. This can be so creative and fun. The

9. Add A Mood Tracker

A mood tracker also isn’t something that comes to mind for a travel journal, but its a great way to take care of yourself on your trip. Make sure you’re feeling your best and take a break when needed. You can create your mood tracker however you like. Simple or complex, it’s for you and your health.

10. Add a Water Tracker

You wouldn’t think you needed a water tracker while traveling. But it’s the think you need the most! It’s so easy to get dehydrated while traveling, a water tracker is really important. The creativity comes in with how you create your tracker. Is there a famous body of water where you’re going? A lake, river or ocean? Make your water tracker look like the body of water. Or you can use special colors that remind you of the place.

11. Add a Gratitude Tracker

This might be the most important tracker to for my travel notebook. Being able to travel is such a privilege and a gift. Within the excitement and chaos of a trip, it can be easy to forget this. Each night, I use my gratitude tracker to reflect on my day. To think about the amazing and special moments of the day. It helps boost my creativity and make the trip even more fulfilling.

12. Experiment with Found Objects

A wonderful creative idea to get you out of your comfort zone is to incorporate found objects in your journal. Being out and about all day in a new place, you’re bound to find some interesting things that need a place in your travel notebook. There are a million ways to do this, so try to think of some of those! You can always paste it in your travel journal and write about it. Like a ticket stub from a show or a museum pass. Something else you could do is use the pass as your header, writing on top of it. Or find a business card from a restaurant you liked and cut it into an interesting shape and then paste it in. The options are endless, and endlessly creative.

However you decide to incorporate these ideas in your travel bullet journal, the most important thing is that they bring out more creativity in you and make your trip and your journalling experience more enjoyable. Have you tried some of these tips? What are you most excited to try in your next travel bullet journal? Leave your answer in the comments below.